Friday, November 23, 2012

Bradley Cooper segment banned from NFL Network show

Bradley Cooper has been banned from the NFL Network in a move that Hollywood honcho Harvey Weinstein is calling "censorship."

The star of the Weinstein Company's "Silver Lining Playbook" was set to headline Friday night's "Rich Eisen's Thanksgiving Special" with co-star Chris Tucker.  But after the segment was already taped and approved, the network was told on Wednesday by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's office to sack it.

The league's reason?  Because Robert De Niro's Eagles-obsessed character in the film is a part-time bookie.

 What's next?   Banning movies with concussions?

The awkward attempt by the NFL to bury its head in the sand has left host Eisen and his producers doing a last minute Hail Mary in the editing room.


"The interview was planned for weeks," said a source. "The  network requested the interview."

Until Thursday, the segment from the Oscar-buzzing film was promoted online as the show's big interview.  There was even a photo of Eisen posing with Cooper and Tucker.  It was later replaced by a shot of Eisen and another guest, actor John Slattery.

Weinstein, never one to pass up a promotional opportunity, said, "We are deeply disappointed in the NFL's decision, and we are quite frankly surprised .  Pulling a pretaped interview with our stars is nothing short of censorship . . . [Silver Linings'] is not a film about gambling in the NFL.  It's a film about fathers and sons and football bonding a family together."

It looks like we'll just have to wait for next year's special to see the heartthrob Cooper promoting "Hangover III."  That movie will probably only have drugs, guns and Mike Tyson singing but, hopefully, no bookies.




2 comments:

  1. Let me get this straight - the guy is banned because someone else plays a bookie - in a movie?
    Roger Goodell has always struck me as being one hamburger short of a happy meal, but this is just insane.

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  2. This is one of the most ignorant decisions, in (to be honest), a long line of small and large truly unjustifiable reactions to almost anything Goodell reacts to.. roaming about almost as a Caesar declaring his dislike on almost anything that catches his eye.. after reading a overview of the movie, this could really do nothing but boost sales, and get paying fans excited.. Or, as he thinks, could be a truly horrible trajesty to all mankind. Hes so ignorant, its really hard NOT to laugh... This is FOOTBALL, NOT Pre-K... TY, Christopher

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